Edge Life Expo Preview: A Conversation with a Medium, James Van Praagh

So following your life review, you may seek out an opportunity to speak to a loved one who is still alive on Earth.
JVP: That’s exactly right. Let’s say a mother wasn’t there for her kids in life and might feel now in the Spirit world that she has an opportunity to go back and be a guide to help them or influence them in a positive way. In her life review, she could have thought, “Wow, I could have been a better mother. Why didn’t I do this or do that. I was so into my own stuff.” Now she may have an opportunity to help her children on the Earth to be better people. This might be her way to try to make amends in whatever way she can.

And, for some beings who are like new to the experience of connecting to loved ones through a medium, do they speak directly with you or do they get help from their guides in doing so?
JVP: I think once they get over to the other side, there are many beings who help them, whose mission it is just to help those who are newly arrived, if you will, and help with their conditions of the mind. If you are not happy with how you left the world and you see the rippling effect of what you did, that can be pretty ugly. You may think, “Wow, how could I have left the world in that position?” So there are talented beings whose job it is to help clear up those conditions. It could be compared to going to a healing center or a therapy center. You came back on the Earth to learn certain lessons and perhaps you didn’t learn them this time. Maybe next time you will. But look here: there were many good things that you did in your life.

Many of us here on the Earth can be critical of ourselves. Imagine what it’s like when you’re in the Spirit world, where there is no time. You find yourselves with your thoughts and experiences that are very, very real, and that can be very difficult.

And perhaps you have to be with those thoughts for a long time.
JVP: Exactly. Since there is no time on the other side, it could be 10, 20, 30 years. I have had experiences — more so in the past two or three years — when I’ve been in a room with anywhere from 500 people to 1,000 people and there have been Spirits on the side of the room — for example, a man folding his arms saying, “I’m not going to speak to them now. I didn’t believe in this when I was alive, why would I try it now.” (Laughs.)

So, I’m wondering if there is someone on the other side — a guide or a teacher — who said, “You should watch them in that situation.” Perhaps they are advised to look at how it works so they can realize that it’s possible for soul-to-soul communication from the living and the dead. At a demonstration, I’ll often see souls in the room who are not there for anybody in the audience, but are there to watch the process so at a later date they can have an opportunity to come through and try it out.

So, it’s interesting to look at this from a different perspective, not only from the perspective of the people in the audience, but from the Spirit world. In my work, I always say, “May I work for the highest good for the Spirit.” Because that’s really who I am working for. I’m not working for the living — and maybe that sounds weird, but I’m really not. I’m really working for the highest of the spirit, to help to heal those spirits. By doing that, it will help those who are living.

Do you just see souls who have passed on to the other side, or do you also see earthbound spirits?
JVP: I don’t want to say it’s black and white, because there are a lot of gray, shady areas. When a person passes out of the body, I feel that sometimes it goes so quickly that they don’t realize that they are fully out of the body.

And they don’t know where they are.
JVP: And, they don’t know where they are. They are caught in-between. Let’s say someone was raised very, very religiously, and when they leave the body they realize, “Oh, wow, my life wasn’t the greatest. I didn’t do things I’m really proud of,” and they see the light or the tunnel. They might think to themselves, “God, I’m not going to go in that light and that tunnel, because I’ll go to hell and burn.” Why would they do that when they can just walk around the Earth.

So, I will say there’s other factors involved, like an emotional connection, a real strong emotional chain holding them back. Let’s say a mother gave birth to a child and she died in childbirth. In her own mind, she thinks she is going to stay close to that baby near the Earth instead of passing into the heavenly realm. She might think, “Oh, I’m going to be away from my baby then. I won’t be able to be with my baby.” She’s not realizing that she could probably be closer to the baby from the spiritual levels and influence the child better than she can on the physical world.

It really has a lot to do with the the limitations of the mind, believing there is nothing more than just the physical world. All of those beliefs, I think, factor into the conditions you find yourself when you leave the body.

On TV and in movies, clearly they add a dramatic element to it and dark forces are introduced.
JVP: Exactly. It’s Hollywood entertainment, so they have to go for the dramatic.

I’m wondering what you’ve learned about dark or evil forces through your work.
JVP: Well, I think Hollywood is full of those people. (Laughs.) I mean, really, it’s pretty amazing. I work with producers and people in Hollywood, and, wow, how can they even wake up in the morning?
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